STAND. COM. REP. NO. 919-26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2026

RE: H.B. No. 1716

H.D. 1

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 1716 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ELECTIONS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to establish a process by which any political party that has been continuously qualified and listed on the general election ballot for twenty consecutive years or more shall be deemed continuously qualified for ballot placement.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Green Party of Hawaiʻi; Hawaiʻi Alliance for Progressive Action; Greenpeace Hawaii; and ten individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of the Attorney General.

Your Committee finds that under existing law, political parties must repeatedly petition to retain ballot access, even after decades of demonstrated voter support and uninterrupted qualification, which can create unnecessary administrative and financial burdens on both the Office of Elections and the political party. This measure is intended to promote fairness, reduce administrative redundancy, and ensure consistent and predictable ballot access standards.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying that any political party that has been continuously qualified and listed on the general election ballot for eight or more consecutive years, rather than twenty or more consecutive years, shall be deemed continuously qualified for ballot placement;

(2) Specifying that a political party deemed continuously qualified for ballot placement shall retain that status until the political party fails to have at least one candidate appear on the ballot for a partisan office in which the candidate elected is determined solely by the voters of the State for two consecutive general elections;

(3) Amending the preamble;

(4) Changing the effective date to July 1, 3000, to encourage further discussion; and

(5) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1716, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1716, H.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs,

____________________________

DAVID A. TARNAS, Chair